Moore fitness a worry in cup lead-up

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AUSTRALIA faces a crisis in its defence ahead of next month's
World Cup play-offs because captain Craig Moore has a recurrence of
the long-running hamstring injury that has kept him out of soccer
for nearly four months.

Unless Moore makes a fast recovery  and forces his way
into the Newcastle United first team to ensure he is match fit
 there must be serious concerns about his readiness to lead
his country.

The Socceroos will take on the fifth-placed South American team
in sudden-death World Cup qualifiers in five weeks.

Moore was unable to take his place in the Newcastle United squad
for the weekend's Premier League game against Portsmouth and his
club has told the Football Federation of Australia that it does not
want the 29-year-old centre-half to go to the Netherlands this week
for the training camp.

Nor does the club want the former Glasgow Rangers skipper to
play in next Sunday's game against Jamaica in London  the
final game coach Guus Hiddink will have to fine-tune his plans
before the November 12 and 16 games against the South
Americans.

And it is not just Moore who is struggling to be fit for those
matches. The other half of Australia's first-choice central
defensive pairing, Crystal Palace's Tony Popovic, is also battling
injury.

The veteran has barely figured for Palace since the club's
relegation from the Premier League at the end of last season and
his match fitness, like Moore's, would have to be in doubt unless
he starts playing regularly soon.

Popovic will be at the training camp and is expected to be able
to train and participate fully.

Hiddink will call uncapped Romanian-based defender Michael
Thwaite into the 25-man squad for the camp, which starts today
ahead of the Jamaica game.

Thwaite, 22, began his career at Marconi in Sydney in the NSL
but now plays for National Bucaresti in the Romanian top division.
He was in the squad for Australia's 1-0 win over New Zealand in
June.

The FFA has installed physiotherapist Les Gelis and fitness
trainer Anthony Crea in London to give extra sessions to Australian
players in Britain, and they have been working with Popovic to try
to prepare him for the Jamaica game and the World Cup
qualifiers.

The FFA's head of high performance, John Boultbee, yesterday
said Moore's condition was an increasing concern.

"At the moment Newcastle are saying he will be unavailable for
the camp," he said.

"We will do our own assessment of the injury and if it is
significant, then that's that.

"We are trying to speak to Newcastle. If he has not got a huge
problem, we would still like him to come into camp. If it's a
problem that's going to persist, it's starting to not look good for
this month or next month's matches.

"We would still like to have him available, but if he's not
playing, it makes it difficult. We will be guided hugely by Les
Gelis."

There are also big question marks over the fitness of
Liverpool's Harry Kewell. The winger returned to action in a
reserve match for Liverpool last week.

Boultbee yesterday said the FFA was not alarmed by reports from
the Netherlands that Hiddink, whose main job is as head coach of
PSV Eindhoven, was under pressure for his involvement with the
Socceroos.